Donte Wofford
English 1301 - 274
Richard
4/20/22
The Legalization of Marijuana in Texas
In the United States currently, marijuana is one of the most controversial topics that can
be brought up in political circles. While some older people and conservatives believe that the
drug should never be legalized, some progressives believe that marijuana is a part of today's
society and that legalization would be better for the country. The state of Texas in recent history
has been a republican voting conservative state; the last time Texas voted for a Democrat to
become president was in 1976 (Daniel and Batheja par 2). It's for this reason that many believe
Texas may never legalize marijuana. Though the majority of the older and more conservative
members of the state believe that keeping marijuana illegal is the right plan of action. it's obvious
that legalizing the drug would have far more benefits, such as helping the economy, keeping the
population safer, and allowing for better use of the police.
Economic benefits of legalizing marijuana include increasing tax revenue, creating more
jobs, and saving taxpayers' money. In states where marijuana has already become legalized, the
combined total of marijuana revenue has totaled to $11.2 billion. These numbers come from the
12 states that have already begun taxing and selling marijuana; six more haven't begun yet, and 2
of those 12 states didn't implement laws until 2020. In colorado, which was the first state to
legalize marijuana in 2014, $1.8 billion has been generated from marijuana. In the first two
months of 2022, Colorado has earned $55 million from the industry, compared to just $46 8
years ago when taxation started. Arizona began taxing in 2021 and has already earned $169
million, which goes to show how rapidly growing the marijuana industry is (MPP par 3). The
legalization of marijuana will also work to create more jobs throughout the state, which is
another boost to the economy. Marijuana would become a source of income for a lot more people
than just the distributors. Plant growers, package makers, and retail space owners would all
benefit from the industry. The new marijuana industry would also work to save taxpayers'
money by creating another source of funds to go towards government-funded things such as
education, prisons, transportation, and medicaid. Marijuana legalization is good for the state's
economy, and in a state with such a large population, the revenue generated would be herculean.
Critics of marijuana legalization often argue that it would be bad for the public's health
and would cause an increase in marijuana-related crimes including DUI's. Marijuana is also
addictive and can be laced with other drugs (Wilkinson par 3). While these facts are true, they
are also true for any other drug, including over-the counter medication and alcohol. While
legalization of weed would likely lead to a greater number of DUI's in the state, there will be a
cutback on other weed-related crimes and overdoses. If marjuana is legalized it can be tested in
labs before being distributed to the public, greatly reducing the amount of laced marijuana
overdoses. Legalization could also lead to a decrease in opioid overdoses, which increased by
35% at the start of the pandemic. Marijuana is proven effective in the same treatment plans that
use these highly addictive opioids, and the legalization of the drug would allow doctors to
prescribe this instead of opioids that could lead to death (Chase par 1). Legalizing marijuna
would lead to a significant decrease in opioid overdoses and the state would have the ability to
regulate what's legally sold and prevent weed from being laced with other drugs. This would be a
great help to the public and work towards keeping everyone in the state safer.
Marijuna legalization would also allow the police in the state to better do their jobs and
focus on more serious tasks instead of wasting time and resources on low level marijuana
possession cases. Marijuana arrests cost around $10,400 per arrest and most of these come from
a small amount being spent on the person. These arrests also require lots of paperwork and time
that could be spent on other things (Telchik, par 2). The state has already greatly cut down on
marijuana arrests since legalizing CBD, which is marijuana products with a THC content under
3%. It’s all the same plant but CBD products won’t allow a person to feel the “high” associated
with regular marijuana with higher THC contents (Sian par 1). Police don't want to spend time
testing for THC levels and making arrests only for it to come back as CBD. This makes the cops
jobs harder because there's no way to discriminate between CBD vs marijuana in an average
traffic stop (McCullough par 7). Be legalizing marijuana and put limits on what's allowed to be
carried on a person; police could simply weigh the amount someone has on them, making their
job much easier.
Legalizing marijuana would be a benefit for all parties involved and not just those who
use the drug. While the state's economy and non-drug using taxpayers would be happy for the
economic benefits, marijuana would also be safer to use among the general population. On top of
that, the state's police force would be able to better do their jobs and save valuable time and
resources. These are all more than well enough reasons to legalize marijuana throughout the state
of Texas.
Reflection
This assignment helped improve my writing skills by allowing me to become more
comfortable with researching a topic and using sources to strengthen my argument. A paper
without good sources to point back to is very weak, and a reader may think of the paper as
completely here, say, or just things the author is making up. I was also able to become better at
paraphrasing a document and to effectively use sources without plagiarizing someone else's
work. This was very challenging for me in the beginning, but with practice I was able to get used
to using paraphrase sentences instead of directly quoting everything I used from a source. This is
a valuable skill to have, because though quotes are good in their own right, too many can make it
seem like the author does not have their own train of thought. At that point, the paper might as
well have been completely plagiarized. In the future I hope I will be able to use more primary
sources while keeping the skills I learned using secondaries. As a whole, this paper really helped
me to learn how to correctly and properly write a research-based essay, which is something that
will be needed in all of my future classes at one point or another. I also really enjoyed the topic I
was researching, and that is a great motivation when writing. When writing about something I do
not enjoy it becomes harder to focus, but I didn't really experience that when writing this paper. I
was able to lock in and finish the work without straying too far from my computer.
Bibliography
Chase, Emma. “As Texas Sees 35% Increase in Opioid Deaths, Texas Original Compassionate
Cultivation Advocates for Proven Alternative Treatments.” Www.businesswire.com, 29
June 2021,
www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210629005826/en/As-Texas-Sees-35-Increase-inOpioid-Deaths-Texas-Original-Compassionate-Cultivation-Advocates-for-Proven-Altern
ative-Treatments. Accessed 24 Apr. 2022.
Daniel, Annie, and Aman Batheja. “Here’s How Texas Voted in Every Presidential Election since
1976.” The Texas Tribune, Texas Tribune, 8 Nov. 2016,
www.texastribune.org/2016/11/08/heres-how-texas-voted-every-presidential-election-/.
Evans, David. THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS of MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION. 2013.
Ferguson, Sian. “Hemp vs. Marijuana: What’s the Difference?” Healthline, 27 Aug. 2020,
www.healthline.com/health/hemp-vs-marijuana#takeaway. Accessed 23 Apr. 2022.
Klick, Stephanie. Relating to the Medical Use of Low-THC Cannabis by Patients with Certain
Medical Conditions and the Establishment of Compassionate-Use Institutional Review
Boards to Evaluate and Approve Proposed Research Programs to Study the Medical Use
of Low-THC Cannabis in the Treatment of Certain Patients. 15 June 2021. 1535.
McCullough, Jolie. “Marijuana Prosecutions in Texas Have Dropped by More than Half since
Lawmakers Legalized Hemp.” The Texas Tribune, 3 Jan. 2020,
www.texastribune.org/2020/01/03/texas-marijuana-prosecution-drop-testing-hemp/.
Miller, Joshua. “In Colo., a Look at Life after Marijuana Legalization - the Boston Globe.”
BostonGlobe.com, 21 Feb. 2016,
www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/02/21/from-colorado-glimpse-life-after-marijuana-leg
alization/rcccuzhMDWV74UC4IxXIYJ/story.html. Accessed 23 Apr. 2022.
ProCon.org. “Recreational Marijuana ProCon.org.” Procon.org, Britannica, 13 Nov. 2018,
marijuana.procon.org/.
Project, Marijuana Policy. “Cannabis Tax Revenue in States That Regulate Cannabis for Adult
Use.” MPP, 5 Apr. 2022,
www.mpp.org/issues/legalization/cannabis-tax-revenue-states-regulate-cannabis-adult-us
e/. Accessed 23 Apr. 2022.
Reynolds, Kevin. “Texas Says Popular Cannabis Extract, Delta-8, Is Illegal, Sending Retailers
Scrambling.” The Texas Tribune, 21 Oct. 2021,
www.texastribune.org/2021/10/21/texas-delta-8-hemp/. Accessed 23 Apr. 2022.
Telchik, Lance. Rational Reasons to Legalize Marijuana in Texas. May 2016.
“Texas State Budget and Finances - Ballotpedia.” Ballotpedia, 2017,
ballotpedia.org/Texas_state_budget_and_finances. Accessed 25 June 2019.
Wilkinson, Samuel T. “Medical and Recreational Marijuana: Commentary and Review of the
Literature.” Missouri Medicine, vol. 110, no. 6, Nov. 2013, pp. 524–8,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6179811/.